By Jamie Samuelsen

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the “Jamie and Wojo” show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

Is Calvin Johnson cursed by “Madden”?

Some of the greatest athletes on the planet play in Detroit.

Think about the roster of talent that applies their trade at our local stadiums and arenas. We have the best pitcher (Justin Verlander); the best hitter (Miguel Cabrera); the best wide receiver (Calvin Johnson) and we just witnessed the retirement of the best defenseman (Nicklas Lidstrom). I supposed I should add “arguably” to the previous sentence, but they’re all arguments that I’d win, so I’ll just leave it out.

These players thrill us, win lots and lots of games, and sell lots and lots of jerseys for their teams.

And they also spoil us. A lot. Verlander posted perhaps the single greatest pitching season in Detroit Tigers history in 2011 (24-5, 2.60) and followed it up in 2012 by going 17-8, 2.64 and that had Tiger fans wondering what was wrong? There were even some who questioned whether an alleged relationship with supermodel Kate Upton would end up being a Yoko Ono-type curse on the Tigers. (Who, me? It made good radio!)

Odds are that Cabrera will not win the Triple Crown next season, although with him, you never say never. Will fans question what happened? Will they look for a curse on Cabrera to explain how it’s humanly possible that he didn’t put up another MVP season?

Everyone is searching for the reason for Johnson’s ‘struggles’ so far in 2012. After his 1681-yard, 16-touchdown season in 2011, the same or better was expected this year. That’s what superstars do. They set the bar so high for themselves, that we expect superhuman feats each and every year.

And to be fair, Johnson did field questions about putting up 2,000 yards this season and made it seem like it was within his abilities. And to be fair, we all agreed. Johnson is 13th in the NFL in catches (41), 7th in receiving yards (638) and 5th in yards per game (91.1). While those are hardly Hall of Fame numbers for a guy who figures to be in Canton some day, they’re also hardly the numbers of a receiver who is struggling to stay in the league.

The bizarre number is Johnson’s touchdown total - one. That number ranks behind such receiving luminaries as the Saints’ Joe Morgan, the Browns’ Greg Little and the Panthers’ Brandon LaFell. And that one touchdown came at the end of the Titans game, when Matthew Stafford was injured on the sideline and Shaun Hill had taken over at quarterback.

Say what you want about anything else in football, but I contend that the fact that Stafford and Johnson have zero touchdowns together is the weirdest thing in the game this season. And thousands of fantasy football owners out there are nodding their heads in agreement.

So what’s wrong with Calvin?

Here are a few possible explanations.

1) The Madden Curse – Sorry. Not buying it. Never bought it. It’s an eerie coincidence given the history of the video game and the history of the players. But I’m not a curse guy. I have been known to point out when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. I apologize if that makes me a bad person.

2) Defenses have figured out how to defend Calvin – Sorry. Not buying that either. Sure, the blueprint is out there to drop two safeties into deep coverage. But Johnson is not a rookie. Last season, he affirmed what many had believed for years, that he is the best wide receiver in the NFL. Defenses tried all these same tricks that they’re trying this year. And they still couldn’t stop him. So why are they possibly able to stop him this season? We all remember when Stafford threw a touchdown pass to Johnson in triple coverage in Dallas last October. Why hasn’t that happened this season?

3) Stafford is off his game – This is a big factor in Johnson’s quiet year so far. Prior to the 28-24 win over the Seahawks, Stafford just didn’t seem like himself. He would still throw the ball up for Calvin, but it was often off-line or short or completely off-kilter. Johnson can beat defenders. But the ball has to be there for him to grab once he beats them. And that hasn’t been the case for most of 2012. That’s a factor. But it’s not the biggest factor.

4) Calvin is hurt – I don’t think there’s any doubt that Johnson is banged up. He took a violent blow to the head from the Vikings’ Chad Greenway in the game at Ford Field in September. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan confirmed this week that he’s been battling knee issues. He misses practice occasionally to rest up for a day. And he just seems slow and labored when he gets up after getting tackled. I don’t know that any one thing is affecting Johnson, but it sure seems like things have piled up to the point where he’s just doing un-Calvin-like things. The opening-drive drop against the Bears still stuns me when I think about it. And he should have caught that ball in the back corner of the end zone last Sunday prior to Stafford’s touchdown pass to Titus Young.

Injured or not, Johnson remains one of the top offensive weapons in football. And even when he’s not having a productive day statistically, he is the single greatest decoy in sports. The Lions will continue trotting him out there and he’ll continue to draw at least two defenders on every play. And the Lions offense should be able to exploit that as they did Sunday against Seattle.

The Johnson situation doesn’t qualify as worrisome yet. It’s just a little odd. If the Lions are going to get back into the playoffs, Johnson will certainly have to grab more than one touchdown. Each week, we keep waiting for that breakthrough to happen. Perhaps it comes Sunday in Jacksonville. If it doesn’t, it will. Eventually. Johnson is simply too good. He’s set the bar far too high. That’s what the best of the best normally do. And they normally live up to it.